by Renegade Hospitality’s Tim Kirkland

A best-selling author and national restaurant, bar and club consultant, Tim Kirkland delivered an insightful address that encapsulated the EXPO’s theme of “how to build a winning team.”

Tim Kirkland is an author, speaker and consultant focusing on sales-building, service-energizing and team-building in the foodservice industry. His best-selling book, The Renegade Server is used in over 20,000 restaurants, hotels, retail locations and universities worldwide. At EXPO 2014, he addressed the convention’s theme and gave club operators plenty to think about, especially in regard to the newest generation of club employees and customers.

EXPO 2014 Promo Staff Training Seminar

Still think the whole social media concept is a waste of your time when it comes to marketing your club? According to Ryan Dahlstrom and Michael Sartain of Rideout Media Group and RescueMyBar.com, it’s time to think again. “The television industrial complex is what we have believed to be the best way to sell product and services over the last 50 years,” Sartain relays. “The internet has changed this. It took 50 years for radio to get to 50 million listeners. It took 12 years for TV to reach 50 million viewers. It took Twitter 18 months to get 50 million users. To put it lightly, the way social media works is exponentially more powerful than television, radio or print media.”

EXPO 2014 Management Training Seminar

While females—specifically, entertainers—are considered the most important facet of the adult nightclub industry, how many clubs utilize women in other positions, including upper management and club security? The three speakers on our “A Woman’s Touch” Management Training Seminar—Sherry Cooper, Jenn Shamy and Maureen Lafferty—helped make the case that having qualified females in upper management positions is something that every club owner should, at the very least, consider.

EXPO Support Staff Training Seminar

Each day, adult nightclubs welcome first-time guests into their venue. And no matter what shape, size or attire the guest boasts, they all have one thing in common: the fact that each will walk away with a first impression of your adult club. So what does it take to create not only a last impression, but a great one?

EXPO 2014 Management Training Seminar

In a society transfixed with individual accomplishments, motivating an entire staff to put forth 100% effort so that everyone wins seems to be a lost cause. However, during our EXPO 2014 “Motivate Them!” Management Training Seminar, two seasoned club executives—Jim St. John, Spearmint Rhino’s VP of Acquistions and Jeff Levy of StripClubRescue.com—shared some of the motivational secrets that have made both them and their employees so successful.

EXPO 2014 Management Training Seminar

The first EXPO 2014 “management” training seminar started right at the beginning: Hiring. It’s a critical component in running any business—so how do you do it right?Two industry experts with well over 50 years of combined experience—Dean Reardon, District Manager with the Spearmint Rhino club chain and a longtime club executive with the Christie’s Cabaret club chain, and David Boehm, longtime club executive and owner/operator of Club Consultant Pro 2.0—revealed their tips for hiring the best adult nightclub staff.

EXPO 2014 Management Training Seminar

The final “management” training seminar at EXPO 2014—”How I Built My Winning Team”—featured two very successful club executives. Micheal Ocello, President of the VCG/PT’s Showclubs chain and Dennis DeGori, managing partner with E11EVEN Miami, each tapped into their 60-plus years of collective industry experience to reflect the theme of the EXPO by offering tips on how they’ve built their winning teams.